The United States is the only developed country in the world without a single legally required paid vacation day or holiday. By law, every country in the European Union has at least four work weeks of paid vacation.

In my union job, 30 days of paid annual vacation was negotiated by the the pilot group.

Is this good or bad in your opinion? In my opinion paid vacation is very good and any decent business model should be based on it. Or is it top executives deserve vactation but the peons don't and I'm talking about paid vacation, not vacation where you take an economic hit...

__________________

The modern business ethos: "I'm worth it, you're not, and I'm a glutton!"

In my union job, 30 days of paid annual vacation was negotiated by the the pilot group.

Is this good or bad in your opinion? In my opinion paid vacation is very good and any decent business model should be based on it. Or is it top executives deserve vactation but the peons don't and I'm talking about paid vacation, not vacation where you take an economic hit...

Here in Canada, it is a minimum of 2 weeks. At my job, everybody starts with 3 weeks paid but we also have 10 paid personal days (Sick, appointments, emergencies)

Four weeks seems pretty high to start with but that's probably because I'm used to what we get here in the USA. In my company, you get two weeks to start; three weeks after five years and four after ten years. I have five weeks, something we no longer give out to workers on my level.

Four weeks seems pretty high to start with but that's probably because I'm used to what we get here in the USA. In my company, you get two weeks to start; three weeks after five years and four after ten years. I have five weeks, something we no longer give out to workers on my level.

Four weeks seems pretty high to start with but that's probably because I'm used to what we get here in the USA. In my company, you get two weeks to start; three weeks after five years and four after ten years. I have five weeks, something we no longer give out to workers on my level.

This is in line with my job referenced with the first post. New employees only get 2 weeks. Now think about all those small retailers out there who give no paid vacation to the peons.

__________________

The modern business ethos: "I'm worth it, you're not, and I'm a glutton!"

A very common tactic in the U.S. where part time positions are awarded to avoid having to offer benefits.

Indeed, France wins for worker pay and rights.

Not making a living wage, no benefits, and no vacation or sick days is very American. American workers are among the most productive in the world, and they are the lowest pays in raw pay, vacation and benefits .

Almost half the population is living in poverty, and more and more working poor are on welfare and food stamps.

Not making a living wage, no benefits, and no vacation or sick days is very American. American workers are among the most productive in the world, and they are the lowest pays in raw pay, vacation and benefits .

Almost half the population is living in poverty, and more and more working poor are on welfare and food stamps.

The tax payer is subsizeding profits!

Go America!

That's the debate. Conservatives in the U.S. will cite all those worker friendly rules in Europe and even in Canada as an abomination. Sure it is, if your priority is maximized profits (that go to a very small group) at the expense of all other considerations and the majority of your citizens. Quite a nice job of disenfranchising the Middle Class has been going on in the U.S. for the last 30 years. Business won't stop it (they are behind it) and small businesses plans are such that the owners are the ones who benefit and the employees scrape by. It was the government that made the New Deal happen, a government controlled by liberals, or at least by people who felt that the pie could be divided in a fairer manner.

This is the Republican Plan, remove the power of the government to look out for all of its citizens. Remove government interference in business dealings and bring back the age of the mogul/tycoon.

__________________

The modern business ethos: "I'm worth it, you're not, and I'm a glutton!"

That's the debate. Conservatives in the U.S. will cite all those worker friendly rules in Europe and even in Canada as an abomination. Sure it is, if your priority is maximized profits (that go to a very small group) at the expense of all other considerations and the majority of your citizens. Quite a nice job of disenfranchising the Middle Class has been going on in the U.S. for the last 30 years. Business won't stop it (they are behind it) and small businesses plans are such that the owners are the ones who benefit and the employees scrape by. It was the government that made the New Deal happen, a government controlled by liberals, or at least by people who felt that the pie could be divided in a fairer manner.

This is the Republican Plan, remove the power of the government to look out for all of its citizens. Remove government interference in business dealings and bring back the age of the mogul/tycoon.

Yeah because the ''laissez-faire'' economy clearly worked in the 19th century

Keynes must be rolling in his grave everytime the Republicans talk about conomy.

I'm a freelancer, and have never had an actual full time job which had vacation time, so I have nothing to compare it with. But I think it's terrible how many companies deny any sort of time off for their employees. Work, work, work. Wake up, go to work, eat, sleep. Rinse and repeat. Terrible.

One of my freelance jobs used to have us on site for six weeks or so, 10-12 hours a day, without a day off, and some 18-24 hour days near the end of the job, and living in small hotel rooms. By the end, we were all wrecked. We complained enough that we finally at least got some days off worked into the deal and shorter work days. And surprise! Everyone was much happier, and the job still got done, and done better) because we were better rested and able to relax more at the end of the day. Somehow, that escapes the American mantra of "work yourself to the bone".

Many years ago, when I was on tour in Europe, I started dating a girl from Sweden. We would be talking at night, and she'd ask if I wanted her to come to wherever I was the next day for a day or two. I'd ask "Don't you have work?" And her response was always, "I can call in the morning and say I'm taking a couple of days off. I get six weeks per year." Or something to that effect. Basically, she was able to decide her days off without any notice required, and somehow, they company still functioned. Could you even imagine trying to implement anything like that in the US? It would cause a firestorm.

The US mantra is to work yourself to the bone to prove your worth. Anything less is weakness.

__________________
A lack of planning on your part should not constitute an emergency on mine.

Legal mandate is 24 days, which will translate only 4 weeks if your on a 6 day week (which pretty much noone is).

If your week has 5 working days it's still 24 days, but only people with temp-job agencies (I think thats the right translation) get that little.

Normal is 30 days on a 5 day-week basis, and if your somehow disabled beyond a certain point you get 2 days more (and 2 years early retirement).
On top of that you can extra days for family-events (birth,weeding, funerals).

Sick days aren't that simple:
6 weeks per sickness have to be payed by the employeer, so if you have 6 weeks of bad back followed by 3 weeks of flu your still o.k.

If a sickness last longer you'll get reduced pay from the health-insurance.
Getting fired due to prolenged sick-leave can only happen in rare cases (like in small companies with less than 5 employees).

If your sickness is due to an work-accident the BG (another insurance) will take over your pay for as long as it takes. In the case that there is no chance for a full recovery they will offer you an early retirement.

All that communist nonsense and Germany still manages to have one of the healthiest economies/labour markets in the EU (if not world).

I think we also get something like 7 sick days per year. Doctor cert required if more than 2 days in a row is the normal requirement.

This doesn't change with time spent in the job, however after 5 years, you start to accrue long service leave.

This can be taken after 10 years service (at which point you have 3 months worth of long service leave - over and above regular holidays), or be paid out on a pro-rata basis if you quit the company before then.

In my union job, 30 days of paid annual vacation was negotiated by the the pilot group.

Is this good or bad in your opinion? In my opinion paid vacation is very good and any decent business model should be based on it. Or is it top executives deserve vactation but the peons don't and I'm talking about paid vacation, not vacation where you take an economic hit...

Here is a little graphic on it. I'm not sure how up-to-date it is-- except for the U.S.: